Hado tsuki - Wave punch

O'Malley

2nd Black Belt
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So, a couple of days ago I shared the video below where Hiroo Mochizuki explains how the central power generation method in Yoseikan Budo is the wave/pulse.


Afterwards, I had some shower thoughts about a detail in the first kata of my school of Nippon Kempo. For context, NK strikes me as a very down-to-earth method: you learn a few parries, punches, kicks and throws, some groundwork, then you put on protections and you fight. The kata themselves are very basic and different from what you can see in karate styles like shotokan. Yet, have a look at the first move in the first kata:


It stands out as the only move without a direct application in fighting, and seems like a power generation drill. Incidentally, it's called "hado tsuki": wave punch (hadouken would have sounded better but I think it was already taken). I find it interesting that, in a system focusing on fundamentals and armored sparring, somebody decided to include that as the first move in the first kata. It stands out even more when you look at the instructor in the video, as his following moves do not appear to incorporate the wave motion.

Do you have a move like that in your style? My intuition would expect so from Chinese and Okinawan methods, for example (like the one-inch punch?).

On a related note, here's a grappling/sumo version of the idea, where the wave starts with forward movement of the center of gravity (from 2:45 onwards):

 
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